"polishing your keg" is more than a clever euphemism

[rack04]

I tried my hand at polishing and here are the results.

Before:

After:

Overall I am pleased with the results although I was hoping for more shine. It was definitely a lot of work.

 

[sarsnavy05]

Didn't see it in the previous 40 pages, so I have to ask... Does anyone have any tips for evenly polishing the two ridges that the some of these kegs have? I can get a nice smooth band along the center of the raised ridges but trying to polish the rest of it usually leaves me with black marks or over scored areas.

Thanks!

 

[lonepalm]

I was thinking about doing this at work over my lunch hour.

This a pretty messy process?

 

[the_bird]

Hey Bobby, is this your DeLorean?

DeLorean buffed to mirror-finish - Boing Boing

 

[originalben]

Very messy.
I do not recommend it. The black residue gets all over everything-clothes, hair...

 

[Bobby_M]

I did my first keg inside my garage during winter. I waited for warm weather to do the second one. Is that a hint?

 

[akthor]

Is it ok to use the pad to take the stickers off the keg? Or should we remove before we start?

 

[originalben]

The more you remove before applying the pad will extend the life and effectiveness of it. You CAN, but it's better if you remove beforehand.
YMMV

 

[day_trippr]

Is it ok to use the pad to take the stickers off the keg? Or should we remove before we start?

You'll load up the pad if you do and then you'll be glazing the keg. I use a heat gun to remove stickers, then wipe the keg down with mineral spirits and a rag to get the residual goo off...

Cheers!

 

[petrostar]

Once the sticker is off, if there is any sticker residue on there. Dip a toothbrush in paint thinner and wipe it clean. It'll blow your mind how quick it comes off. In big black boogers!

 

[TalonBrew]

Hey guys,

I need a little help. After three pretty long days, I'm to the point where I can start polishing my keg. It has some dark, mottled discolorations in it from the Gator wheels, but I thought the polish would get rid of that. Id does to a certain extent, but not totally leaving me with a polished keg that looks like it has leprosy.

I tried to take pictures of the polished side, but it's too reflective to give an accurate picture, so here is a picture of the unpolished side. You can see the spots. I've tried going back over it with the blue pad and that may or may not remove the spots.

Am I screwed?

Thanks,
Keith
Denver

 

[Bobby_M]

Put a little acetone on a rag and see what comes off.

 

[TalonBrew]

Thanks Bobby.

I tried that and alcohol, but no change. It's like the coloration is in the metal not on the surface. I'm going to go get some #1 polishing compound and try that first to see if it will remove the spots and a few minor scratches. I want to see if the #1 is between the fine pads and the #2.

 

[Flomaster]

Thanks Bobby.

I tried that and alcohol, but no change. It's like the coloration is in the metal not on the surface. I'm going to go get some #1 polishing compound and try that first to see if it will remove the spots and a few minor scratches. I want to see if the #1 is between the fine pads and the #2.

i'd go back to using the sand paper pad get the black off of so its just dull metal, then try your luck with the polishing pad.

of coarse I took a flapper disk to my entire keggle first, then used the coarse pad and compound, then the fine cotton mirror finish pad and compound.

didn't get all the scratched out from the flapper disk, but its good enough.

-=Jason=-

 

[TalonBrew]

didn't get all the scratched out from the flapper disk, but its good enough.

-=Jason=-

I did the same thing and it was a mistake. I thought I was being smart, hitting the roughest spots with the flap wheel, but it turned out to be much harder to get rid of the ridges and scratches.

Thanks Jason.

 

[day_trippr]

Thanks Bobby.

I tried that and alcohol, but no change. It's like the coloration is in the metal not on the surface. I'm going to go get some #1 polishing compound and try that first to see if it will remove the spots and a few minor scratches. I want to see if the #1 is between the fine pads and the #2.

I bet that discoloration is melted backing pad...

 

[megalomani]

has anyone tried to do this with an orbital sander instead of an angle grinder?

 

[Flomaster]

I bet that discoloration is melted backing pad...

Yeah I got black marks when the backing pad made contact with the keggle.

 

[TalonBrew]

I bet that discoloration is melted backing pad...

Turned out I kind of figured it out. It was not on the surface, i.e. not the pad. It's like some sort of oxidation. Everywhere that it's slightly darker, there is either a small scratch, or a depression that the pads can't get fully into. Realize that I even went and got some coarse pads and still cant get all the way down. It took polishing it to actually be able to see what was causing it. So I got a new, fine pad and very very gently went around and lightly hit each of the spots with the corner of the disk, and it would take enough of the surface, and darkness off to make the spots smaller, and harder to see. Where the dent or deep scratches are still have a darkness, but when it's polished up, it's not very noticeable.

I really wish I had a newer keg before I started this, but with one or two more sessions, I think I'll have something worth posting. Oh yeah... and boiling in. :rockin:

 

[PiratesBeardBrewery]

Lots of back and forth on this polishing topic, I think it all comes down to what you YOURSELF are happy with in the end.

I used Bobby's technique (sort of), but I severely underestimated the depth of the scratches on my keg. All I used was the gator fine pad and polishing pad with Lowe's #2 polish, here is what it looked like after each step.

Before anything:

After Gator fine pad:

I was tempted to stop here, almost. It looked a lot better than I thought it would, but boy I'm glad I took the next step.

After polishing pad with #2 polish stick:

Is it as mirror-like as Bobby's or many others on here? Heck no, not even close. But that's fine by me. It looks a heck of a lot nicer than when I started. Also because I used about half the steps than Bobby's method did, I used half the time. 1.5 hours from start to finish for this polishing job.

I might also add, my keg had several small dents in it to begin with, so I knew no matter how much work I put into polishing it that it would never be perfectly mirror-like. For this reason I decided to cut down Bobby's method to save some time, effort, and money. Those gator pads aren't cheap and I went through two fine pads and two polishing pads getting this done (about $30 at Lowe's since I had to buy the backing as well). Well worth it to me!

This forum is awesome, and everyone's input was great as I did my research so I thought I would return the favor for those out there watching and reading from the shadows like I was. Hope you enjoyed it!

 

[akthor]

That's very encouraging I have a PBR keg that looks very similiar to yours. I was wondering if I should even bother trying to polish it. I would be very happy if my comes out like yours!

 

[PiratesBeardBrewery]

If you really want the majority of the scratches out I would recommend you start with the medium gator pad like Bobby's method recommends. Mine looks pretty good from afar, but when you get up close you can really see the deeper scratches that are still there. But like I said, this keg was pretty beat up with dents in several places so I wasn't too concerned with getting it perfect.

Turned out much better than I anticipated for the minimal effort that I put into it.

 

[TalonBrew]

I had to go back to a coarse to get rid of some self-induced scratches from a flap wheel. I've finally got it polished, but it still has a slight haze and/or very fine scratches. I think I need to go over it again with the #2 polish and a new pad. Can someone tell me how much of the polish they are using? I can't tell if it's too much or too little. I used about 2/3 of the stick, but it seldom seemed like there was any on the pad.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[PiratesBeardBrewery]

I went through about 2/3 of the #2 polish stick as well for one pass over the keg plus a little cleaning up in a few spots. I probably used too much but I also went through two polishing pads on just my #2 polish run.

 

[TalonBrew]

Thanks for the info.

 

[akthor]

Oh I definitely will. You can see I got a Bud Light keg that is pretty flawless, thank god cuz I hate Bud Light. After choking down a whole keg of the Bud Lt I don't care how nice the kegs are I got some decent beer. Believe or not PBR on draft ain't horrible, not my fave for sure but not bad. The PBR kegs are more beat up cuz in my area they are rotated alot faster and more frequently than other kegs since all the bars in the area have $2 24oz draft specials all the time. I actually got the nicest one they had lol.

I used to manage a Redemption Center so I still have relationships with the Bud and Miller Distributors in my area who told me I could keep the kegs (if they could come over and try the beer I make in them )

If you really want the majority of the scratches out I would recommend you start with the medium gator pad like Bobby's method recommends. Mine looks pretty good from afar, but when you get up close you can really see the deeper scratches that are still there. But like I said, this keg was pretty beat up with dents in several places so I wasn't too concerned with getting it perfect.

Turned out much better than I anticipated for the minimal effort that I put into it.

 

[akthor]

One other question, how messy is this? It's winter here in Maine so I don't suppose this can be done inside?

Heading to Lowes to buy the stuff, including a grinder and a cut off wheel to cut the tops off.

 

[TalonBrew]

One other question, how messy is this? It's winter here in Maine so I don't suppose this can be done inside?

Heading to Lowes to buy the stuff, including a grinder and a cut off wheel to cut the tops off.

It's pretty bad. I live in Denver and the weather was a little cold and windy, so I did it in the garage. You get TONS of this gritty dust on everything. The problem is that sweeping wouldn't get it all off the floor! I had to put a wet towel in the house to wipe my shoes on then I'd take them off! I had these black footprints everywhere. I blew out the garage with a shop-vac and that helped, but still, there are all sorts of horizontal places that I need to go wipe down with a wet cloth. I just touched my workbench, and even after blowing it out, I got black stuff all over my hands.

Oh yeah.... don't put the cans in there with you either. That's a trip to the car wash for sure.

I waited for a warm day (~40) and finished up in the back yard. Soooo much better.

FWIW. I'm sure others will chime in and say it wasn't that bad, but for my money, I won't ever do it inside again.

 

[PiratesBeardBrewery]

That Bud Light keg is gonna clean up real nice, I'd take that one all the way down to the #5 polish and it'll be a mirror

 

[PiratesBeardBrewery]

It's pretty bad. I live in Denver and the weather was a little cold and windy, so I did it in the garage. You get TONS of this gritty dust on everything. The problem is that sweeping wouldn't get it all off the floor! I had to put a wet towel in the house to wipe my shoes on then I'd take them off! I had these black footprints everywhere. I blew out the garage with a shop-vac and that helped, but still, there are all sorts of horizontal places that I need to go wipe down with a wet cloth. I just touched my workbench, and even after blowing it out, I got black stuff all over my hands.

Oh yeah.... don't put the cans in there with you either. That's a trip to the car wash for sure.

I waited for a warm day (~40) and finished up in the back yard. Soooo much better.

FWIW. I'm sure others will chime in and say it wasn't that bad, but for my money, I won't ever do it inside again.

It was pretty messy. The sanding portion wasn't so bad but the polishing portion gets little fibers from the polish pad and little black specks of polish everywhere. I thought I just got it on my shirt and pants but when I went inside and looked in the mirror the only part of my face that wasn't black was the part that was covered by my glasses.

Luckily I did it outside so didn't have to worry too much about cleanup. I will say though that I'm finding it very hard to clean up all the leftover fibers and black polish residue that got stuck in some of the holes/handles and such in the keg